Drag City (2012) It's a rare thing when you listen to a record and can actually hear drugs spewing from the speakers, but such is the gift of Rad Times Xpress IV , the latest from Jennifer Herrema, the exRoyal Trux chanteuse now doing business as Black Bananas.

Merge Records (2012) The Magnetic Fields' last three albums all eschewed the synthesizers that typified their sound in the '90s, but Fields main man Stephin Merritt makes up for it on Love at the Bottom of the Sea, where he deploys at least 10 albums' worth of synths in a brisk 35 minutes.

Mom + Pop (2012) At least three unrelated people we know responded to Treats, the 2010 opening salvo from this Brooklynian pop duo, with statements like, "It's drum loops that took five minutes to write, cock-rock guitars, a singer who usually sounds like she's parodying a porn actor faking an orgasm — and it's super cool?"